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New from OK Policy
Interim study discusses parental rights and protecting well-being for endangered children (Capitol Update): An interim study requested by Rep. Danny Williams, R-Seminole, and Rep. Sherrie Conley, R-Newcastle, was held in the House Judiciary-Civil Committee last week and went in a slightly different direction than I expected. Instead, the study focused on how to improve the system to get parental rights terminated so children will become eligible for a new, permanent home and out-of-state custody. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
Oklahoma News
Oklahoma law unfavorable to tenants, lawmakers told: The only thing tenants of some so-called affordable housing get for reporting leaky pipes or broken furnaces is an eviction notice, witnesses told an Oklahoma House of Representatives interim study on Monday. [Tulsa World]
- OK Policy Fact Sheet: Oklahoma renters need protection against landlord retaliation
- OK Policy: It’s time for action to address Oklahoma’s eviction crisis
‘Bury the hatchets’: Veterans Commission wants Joel Kintsel, John Nash to work together: After a lengthy executive session during their five-hour Sept. 1 meeting, Veterans Commission members took no action on Department of Veterans Affairs director Joel Kintsel’s employment and, instead, emerged with a message reminding both Kintsel and Gov. Kevin Stitt’s secretary of veterans affairs and military, John Nash, to focus on the ODVA’s mission of serving Oklahoma veterans. [NonDoc]
State Government News
Guest Column: Don’t swallow the ice cream diet fantasy on taxes: Once again, Oklahomans are hearing from assorted business leaders, elected politicians and conservative think-tanks that the key to the state’s prosperity depends on repeal of the personal income tax. Proponents of income tax repeal are back telling us that to compete in attracting investment and migration, Oklahoma must join states like Tennessee and Texas that have no income tax. There are several fundamental flaws with this argument. [David Blatt Guest Column / Tulsa World]
Tribal Nations News
Oklahoma appellate court next for Osage Nation case: Questions over whether the Osage Nation reservation in northern Oklahoma still exists will next be answered by the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals. [The Journal Record]
Voting and Election News
She became a Democrat to run for Oklahoma governor. Her husband remains a registered Republican: When state schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister switched political parties to run for governor, her husband remained a registered Republican and couldn’t vote for her in the June primary election. [The Oklahoman]
Criminal Justice News
Oklahoma is prosecuting pregnant women for using medical marijuana: At least 26 women charged with felony child neglect in Oklahoma since 2019 for using marijuana during their pregnancies, an investigation by The Frontier found. The crime can carry a term of up to life in prison in Oklahoma, though previous defendants pleaded guilty and received probation. [The Frontier]
Education News
Superintendent calls for unity, says voucher system would be ‘foolish’: The head of Minco Public Schools says schools should not be political battlegrounds, and a voucher system that would see public money going to private schools is unwise. [Public Radio Tulsa]
Republican lawmakers call for investigation into Norman teacher for potential HB 1775 violation: Fourteen Oklahoma Republican lawmakers are asking the State Department of Education to investigate a former Norman teacher for potentially violating the state’s so-called critical race theory law. [KGOU]
Jenks approves new school board districts: Jenks Public Schools’ Board of Education unanimously approved new board districts Monday night. [Tulsa World]
General News
Hundreds of places have new names after racist term for Native people erased from US lands: Hundreds of cliffs, creeks and canyons, including seven sites in Oklahoma, now have new names after U.S. officials stopped using a racist term that refers to Native Americans. [The Oklahoman]
Quote of the Day
“The only effective remedy (for tenants) is to terminate the lease, and it’s not really effective because so many people just do not have the money to move. I have hundreds of clients … who are living in sewage, and your choice is, do you move and become homeless, or do you keep your family in sewage?”
— Richard Klinge of the Oklahoma City University College of Law, speaking on Oklahoma’s lack of protection for renters, which allows a landlord to evict renters for requesting necessary repairs. [Tulsa World]
Number of the Day
91%
Percentage of low-income Oklahoma families who used their monthly expanded Child Tax Credit funds on basic needs. [CBPP]
Policy Note
What to Know About the Latest Poverty, Income, and Health Insurance Figures for 2021: The figures will show the impact of extraordinary government efforts to bolster economic security and health coverage in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, including new data on the reduction in child poverty due to the expanded Child Tax Credit. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities] | [U.S. Census Bureau]
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